LOS ANGELES - A California doctor charged in the 2023 overdose death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry pleaded guilty on Wednesday to four counts of illegal distribution of the prescription anesthetic ketamine. Dr. Salvador Plasencia, one of five people charged in the death of Perry at age 54, entered the...
Visalia’s Shirk Street Intersection to Close Starting July 28
Construction at the Hurley Avenue intersection on Shirk Street is scheduled to begin Monday, July 28, as part of Visalia’s Shirk Capacity Enhancement Project, city officials announced. The current phase, known as Phase 2B, includes roadway widening and the installation of a 48-inch mainline sanitary sewer, storm drain lines, and...
US Olympic Officials Bar Transgender Women From Women’s Competitions
The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee quietly changed its eligibility rules on Monday to bar transgender women from competing in Olympic women’s sports, and now will comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order on the issue, according to a post on the organization’s website. The new policy, expressed in a...
French President Macron Sues Candace Owens Over Claim France’s First Lady Was Born Male
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte filed a defamation lawsuit in the U.S. on Wednesday against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, centered on her claim that France's first lady is male. The Macrons said in a lawsuit filed in Delaware Superior Court that Owens has waged a lie-filled "campaign...
No One Controls MAGA, not Even Trump. The Epstein Files Prove It
Apart from supplying endless fodder to journalists and Democrats, the White House’s attempts to put a lid on the Jeffrey Epstein affair provide a useful test for a question that will matter more the deeper we travel into Donald Trump’s second term: Namely, to what extent does MAGA populism exist...
Fresno’s Mission Thrift Asks for Clothing Donations After Fire Burns $125K in Goods
The Fresno Mission Thrift Store has fully reopened after a fire earlier this month destroyed thousands of dollars in donated goods and forced a temporary shutdown. The fire broke out July 10 in a large donation pile in the store’s storage area on Sierra Avenue, between Blackstone Avenue and Highway...
Gabbard Releases New Documents Targeting Obama Administration
WASHINGTON — Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, released new documents Wednesday that she said undermined the conclusion of intelligence agencies during the Obama administration that Russia favored the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Gabbard released a declassified version of a report from the House Intelligence Committee, originally...
In Landmark Opinion, World Court Says Countries Must Address Climate Change Threat
THE HAGUE - The United Nations' highest court on Wednesday said countries must address the "urgent and existential threat" of climate change by cooperating to curb emissions, as it delivered an opinion set to determine future environmental litigation. The opinion by the International Court of Justice, also known as the...
White House Unveils Artificial Intelligence Policy Plan
WASHINGTON - The White House released an artificial intelligence (AI) policy plan on Wednesday spelling out priorities for the U.S. to achieve "global dominance" in the sector. President Donald Trump's plan calls for open-source and open-weight AI models to be made freely available by developers for anyone in the world...
WHO Sees ‘Deadly’ Surge in Malnutrition in Gaza. 21 Children Under Five Killed in 2025
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it was seeing a deadly surge in malnutrition in Gaza that has led to the deaths of 21 children under five so far in 2025. Malnutrition centers are full without sufficient supplies for emergency feeding, the health agency said, as the hunger crisis...